Riad Salam Fes was Pure Eye Candy

After walking down a dark and narrow street in the medina (i.e., old part of the city), there is the beautiful front door to the Riad where we spent two nights in Fez. A Riad is a larger, more luxurious home that was typical of the very wealthy.

We are welcomed into the Riad's primary gathering space, which was about the quarter size of a football field. Those columns were beautifully tiled.

This was another wall of the big gathering room. Sumptuous is the word I would use. The mosaic tiling is all individual. Four original riads have been combined to give a 48-room capacity in the entire facility. I'm not exactly sure of the original age but at least 1700s.

 

Serving mint tea is a classic way to invite guests into a "home." The tea is poured from high to increase the aromatics. It is quite delicious!

This was another separate gathering space. The fountain in the middle flows through a channel that surrounds a planting at the far end. Plus, there is the wispy vine stuff floating down from the floor above.

Just another gathering space with a fountain of rose petals and individual mosaic tiling.

The stained glass surrounding all the floors with very colorful.

This is a view looking up at the next two floors past a gorgeous cutout bronze chandelier. The architectural details were a wonder to behold. The wood is all cedar and either carved into patterns or painted in intricate patterns.

This is a view from the bottom floor of the chandelier and ceiling that was glittering in gold. Whether it was paint or some kind of applique, I don't know. More details of the cedar can be seen.

The rooftop terrace was massive, with views of the hills and of other medina rooftops. Many with laundry hanging to dry.

The detailed wood on the walls of this elevator was incredible.

This was our carved cedar door with the Hand of Fatima to protect us from evil. The "Hand of Fatima" is both important as a cultural element and decorative. My cell phone has a pop rocket with the Hand of Fatima on it.

Our bedroom definitely had a sumptuous quality to it. The headboard was carved and each individual piece was hand painted. We received two pairs of Moroccan slippers (on the bed). I love the little patterned bronze bedside lamps. And then there is the ceiling and chandelier...and the mosaic tiled floor. The bedding is all a cross stitched design (probably machine stitched). For all this beauty, the bed was hard as a rock!

We ended up with a slightly bigger room that included this corner seating unit. It was good for holding suitcases.

We wandered into another area of the Riad to find the swimming pool. It wasn't quite warm enough to swim, and there was a photo shoot going on.

It was a pre-wedding photo shoot with a beautiful bride-to-be. That dress took my breath away with the soft glittery green and a touch of red lining. It might sound strange, but it was stunning.

You can see a little more detail on the gown. She was a beautiful woman (obviously) who was so sweet. She told us that we were free to take all the photos that we wanted. This was no ordinary bride.

There are only 12 of us on this tour from a PhD college student up to those over 70.

Diana was surprised when the waiter popped a fez hat on her head.

Such a cute group!

Dinner that night was the Moroccon way of sharing a huge dish of couscous, garbanzo beans, beef shank, all sorts of veggie chunks (potato, carrot, zucchini) and topped with sweet raisins for the sweet and savory combo. Delicious and healthy!

Dessert...hard to describe the layers of crispy filo dough and some sort of cream. It wasn't very sweet.

The above dessert was to be topped with oranges, bananas, and candied carrot strips. There was likely some simple syrup drizzled over it all.